‘Russia’s Facebook’ asked to improve anti-piracy systems

Moscow, Sep 30 (IANS) A court in Russia directed that the country’s leading socialnetwork site, VKontakte (VK), should improve its anti-piracy systems.

The court, however, refused to grant $543,685 in damages sought by the plaintiffs, music giants Warner and Universal, Xinhua news agency reported.

Work on a new system to combat illegal music downloads was already underway, a VK spokesperson said on Tuesday in St. Petersburg.

Founded in 2006 by St. Petersburg State University graduate Pavel Durov, VK has become “Russia’s Facebook”, offering its 100 million-plus users video-and music-sharing platforms as well as other social networking tools.

In 2014, Warner, Universal and Sony Music sued VK for breach of copyright. VK and Sony reached an out-of-court settlement earlier this year.